I am in the process of creating a skydome in Maya and I am using final gather with a light blue environment background color. My sky .tif file is pretty much the same light blue color with some white clouds. I also have an additional directional light to further mimic the sun light.

Here is the issue. The referenced models render a darker shade with the skydome. If I take the skydome out, it renders correctly.

Is there a way to make sure the skydome does not block the final gather, or am I going to have to render the skydome out separately and compose it in Adobe Premiere/After Effects?

Note: I am trying to eliminate Maya Sun and Sky and IBL lighting as options for lighting this scene. I want to recreate daytime light with a directional light, skydome, and final gathering.

Not a Maya user, but have you tried setting the skydome not to cast shadows or receive shadows etc. but only visible to renderer/camera. If he is visible to FG rays it will calculate him in the scene making it a bit darker judging by the object and the it's texture. If you remove him from the equation, scene won't be affected

also, thing we have in max, and i do believe maya has this is the option that a light can exclude an object - set your directional light to exclude the skydome and try then

sorry if none of this helps, just giving advise from a max perspective.

What you could do is just render it on a separate layer.... or go into the render stats of the skydome and turn off visible in final gather, also turn off cast/receive shadows on the dome. That should do the trick

What you could do is just render it on a separate layer.... or go into the render stats of the skydome and turn off visible in final gather, also turn off cast/receive shadows on the dome. That should do the trick

Thanks for the trick...ha. No seriously, I am thinking about just compositing my sky in after effects.